powerful cleaning that's family friendly. another step forward in our mission for health. you're watching the station that works for you. now, good morning maryland. >> it was a way to tell newtown connecticut we are with you and it was also a way to tell theworld we want something done about guns in the united states.

the ravens finally got the victory they. >> heed to win the afc north crushing the giants 33-14. we will hear what the team has to say. and still have christmas shopping? you do know it's christmas eve right? don't worry you will have plenty of company out there today. thanks for joining us. it's christmas eve morning. i am megan pringle. charley has the day off but lynette charles is here and a lot of people are heading out to the malls or somewhere downtown in the community and they want to know how warm do they have to dress? >> and i am one of those people i hate to say. we all need to bundle up this morning. the temperatures are cold. and i say bundle up because once you get to the mall you will want to take off the coat when you roll up your sleeves to do the last-minute shopping. 30 in glenelg millersville at 27 and pylesville at 29. and as we check out maryland's most powerful radar, we are dry for right now. i have all five sweeps on and we are scanning the skies. throughout the day we will have

light rain push in and we could see snow mainly off toward the north and west. so this is how to plan your day accordingly. we have the planner here and temperatures by 8:00 coming in at 31. and still dry as we go into the lunchtime it's quite brisk out there. 39 degrees the high temperature for today is 40 degrees. and coming in below average because we should be at 43 degrees for this time of the year. let's check the traffic with lauren cook good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we have several accidents to tell you about. we have two in baltimore isn'ty on east saratoga -- silty -- city at east saratoga and green spring valley road at spring hill road. traveling on 795, no problems to report whatsoever. it will be an easy ride heading to the beltway and this is what the beltway looks like. traffic is moving along normal 11 minute ride from 795 all the way down to 95. and as we look at the other abc2 timesaver traffic drive times east side of the beltway

in great shape. 11 minutes to travel the outer loop right now from 95 all the way up to 83. and 95 nice and clear in white marsh four minutes from route 43 down to the beltway and the south side will be nice and clear and you won't have any problems getting to the airport this morning. route 295 also going to be free of delays. that's a look at your traffic megan over to you. three minutes after 6. if you thought putting off your holiday shopping would mean less people in the stores, think again. millions of you are expect to go out and do that last-minute holiday shopping and linda so is live at the mall in columbia. what are shoppers in for today? will it be easy or a bunch of elbowing? >> reporter: we have heard that there are still tons of people who need to get shopping done. and the mall here in columbia is actually doing a lot to help those people out. they are opening the doors at 7 this morning actually macy's and j.c. penney will be opening at 7. nordstrom will open up at 8.

workers are coming early to get ready for the last day before christmas. the rest of the mall will be opening at 8 this morning and you know macy's did something interesting this year. something they have they have never done before. they stayed open around the clock nonstop all weekend long. and they shut down at midnight last night. but, again, opening their doors at 7 this morning for all of you who waited to get your shopping done, get ready to share the parking lots in stores with plenty of procrastinators. it was a big beesy weekend at -- businessies week -- busy weekend in stores. did you know the busiest shopping day of the year happens to be the saturday before christmas not black friday? and for those who didn't get -- make it to the malls this weekend, 17 million people say they plan to shop on christmas eve. a good bulk of the shoppers have not started the shopping yet. so, what are the most popular gifts? still clothing. that's why the mall is expecting a busy day today. then comes gift cards.

the mall will be closing the anchor stores will be closing at 6 tonight and the mall will be closing at 7 we have learned that target is staying a little open a little later. they will be closing at 10 tonight for all those last- minute shoppers. megan are you done? >> oh i am done linda. i can't handle those crowd i finished a while ago. so. i won't be at the mall. we will check in with you in a bit. listen it's not just the malls packed with shoppers local stores seeing more people, we headed to downtown annapolis where shoppers browsing the shops all along main street. and at marion blanche customers were crossing off the last gift for the lists. the stores coowner says it's better to shop small businesses if you want a more unique gift. >> the trend of the last 7 holiday seasons this is not hit the same as last year but it is better than years previous. what you find in a local store generally you can't find in a

big box or chain store. >> that's absolutely true. many businesses in downtown annapolis plan to close early today so if you still have a few presents to pick up, it's a good idea to get to the stores before 4:00 in that community. 6 minutes after 6 right now. there is no doubt about it, it's going to be a difficult christmas for those families in newtown connecticut. in a show of support, people in new york city marched across the brooklyn bridge carrying candles. they stopped in the middle of the bridge and they read the names of the children and adults killed in the tragedy. they also marched for tighter gun laws in the united states. gun sales spiked following the connecticut school shooting. now the demand is driving prices up as well. guns like ar-15s and m-4s are selling for as high as a thousand dollars in texas. some assault style weapons have more than doubled in price. one gun dealer says a weapon that week ago ran about $900 is

now selling from 1500 to $1200. gun buyers are expecting the prices to go higher. people across the country are keeping victims and survivors in the thoughts. in gaithersburg families gathered to make snowflake decorations for newtown survivors. they said they wanted to help make the town beautiful again. and they wanted to turn it into a winter wonderland instead of a place filled with so much pain. the children who cush vieived -- survived will go back to school in a different building next month. 7 minutes after 6 right now. for the second year in a row, the baltimore ravens are your afc north division champs. they recovered from the 3 game losing streak and they beat the giants and crushed the giants and here's scott garceau with the story from the bank. >> reporter: after losing three straight, the ravens got their swagger back in this one. they jumped out 14-0 were up 24-

7 at the half and cruised ending the superbowl champion giants hopes. for the ravens back to back afc north titles and that is something they are proud of. >> this was the championship. this was you know what, solidified a home playoff game you know back to back you know. division champs. that's huge around here. so, the expectation is to win. >> i think fun is a good word to describe the game and this win. you know the last three weeks have been difficult for our ball club and we are not used to losing like that. you know, we stayed confident and knew the things we were capable and potential we have as a football team. >> i love this team. i love every guy on the team and i love the way they compete i love the way they work and fight. you hear ray talk, you can understand why. and this is just a special group of men. how far we take each other? we will find out.

that remains to be seen. >> there's a few of them that play in a long time and never won a division and stuff and this is the second time in two years hats goes off to what we do in the off season and work we put in day in and day out. we have to reach one goal and now we are work on the second one. >> reporter: next week onto cincinnati where they close out the regular season. but this much we know, the ravens have won the division title and that clinches a home game here in baltimore andn round one of the playoffs -- in round one of the playoffs. scott garceau abc2 news. it's probably a spectacular sight to look up and see and you would think people living near this volcano would see that and head out of town. that's not the case. we will tell you why. and this next story will make you furious about as low as you can get. using the tragedy of sandy hook to scam people out of their money. it's disgusting but it's happening. we will fill you in on the trap. >> so we have snow back towards

the west and wet weather to the south. i will tell you if this moves in our direction coming up. >> reporter: lynette, no delays getting to bwi airport. 95 nice and clear south of 195. but we are dealing with accidents. i will have the details coming up on good morning maryland. >> this is a live picture of new york city times square let's head up there for today's tech bites. >> reporter: in today's tech bites google may challenge a apple and samsung they are working with motorola on a smartphone. after that they will start working on a google camera. iphone now has 53% of the u.s. smart phone market and that same 12 week period before thanksgiving samsung had 32 -- 42% you this they lead by a wide margin in europe. there are two places to track santa's trip one is norad the military command center tracking st. nick for years and

that's norad santa.org and joanna stern says the other site is google. >> google has a google.com/santa tracker site where you can track santa and play fun games. >> reporter: google lets you ask santa to send a friend or relative a message. murray christmas. those -- merry christmas. those are your tech bites, i am rob nelson. w=!n

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they have it. look how pretty that looks. look at the ski resorts in mount hood. this is what the skiers and snow borders wanted. it's a winter wonderland. and i know a lot of you here in the area are waiting for it but in the western maryland they got hit pretty hard. >> they got western maryland over friday, we had -- it's funny i said did you see the flurry on -- flurries on friday and she is like no. >> what flurries? how did i miss that. >> you were probably inside. >> running around chasing them. >> sounds good. today a within theory -- wintery mix is possible. >> within theory mix? >> -- wintery mix? >> yes not pure snow that everyone wants to see. across the nation, the snow is coming down towards the west. we can see some up in minnesota as well. what we are dealing with is the wet weather. we can see this down south around tennessee valley and alabama moving into georgia.

and we are starting to see the leading edge of the rain push into virginia. this will begin to work et cetera way -- its way towards us going through the rest of the day. by this afternoon we have a chance for showers in the forecast for us. now we have that cold air out there. temperatures are in the low 20s in a lot of spots or upper 20s low 30s in a lot of spots this morning. we are at 32 in bel air so we are dealing with freezing temperatures this morning. we can see that in goldsboro as well. annapolis at 36 degrees. so, if that cold air that moisture meet up together we have that chance. and future trend picking up on just that. so, there's the cold air turning everything over to snow of the north and west of town we can see a little mix maybe to the around baltimore to the south and maybe rain. that is a possibility and we have two more chances even after today for a within theory mix in the picture. in the meantime, for today, the temperature coming in at 40 degrees by this afternoon. that's going to be the high for today. that's 7-day forecast looks

like this. as we will see those temperatures in the low 40s nice and seasonable. the next chance for showers on wednesday and a mix and saturday a mix. let's check the traffic with lauren cook good morning. >> reporter: good morning. i am loving the cold weather. write that down because it doesn't happen often. if you are traveling in baltimore city, watch out for a crash on saratoga. more problems in baltimore county where there's a crash in owings mills on green spring valley road at spring hill road. now traveling on 83 as we check in and look live north of 695, traffic moving along there. no problems right now heading downtown. and this is what 95 looks like. right at 395, no delays through the fort mchenry tunnel harbor tunnel going to be in great shape and as we check in and look and timesaver traffic no problems on 695. it's going take you a normal 11 minutes right now on the outer loop from 95 all the way up to 83. and things lee maine nice and clear over on the west side of the beltway it's going to take

you 11 minutes as well to travel the outer loof from -- loop from 795 to 95. that's traffic megan over to you. tragedy in sandy hook has the community on everyone's mind but scamers they are not going to think twice about capitalizing on your sympathy. joce sterman explains how in the week's scam alert. >> reporter: as the nation tolls a bell to honor victims at sandy hook experts are sounding an alarm letting people know scammers are using the tragedy as a trap. the better business bureau says schemers want to take advantage of your generosity. with the agency getting reports of fake charity solicitation with made up ties to victim's families. so before you donate to any cause you need to check your emotions and do your homework. don't believe charities you see on social networks endorsed by friends or family have been veted. instead before you give go to give.org and never click on links sent to you about a

charity unless you know the source. and don't respond to solicitations. if there's a cause you want to support, seek them out independently and then make your gift. joce sterman, abc2 news. and better business bureau says some victims from sandy hook have set up assistance funds and those cannot be used as charities so before you give to a family fund make sure it will be handed out by a third party like a bank or a cpa even an attorney. just something to keep in mind. they are showing up late and poor performance and being too pretty. ahead, a dental assistant is canned for being too attractive. how does this happen and what does she have to say about this. plus, one man's trash is another man's christmas decorations? this is impressive. we will show you how some banana peels and could haveee grinds -- coffee grinds can make a spectacular display.

good morning thanks for joining us. it's now time for caption this. viewers send in photos and we post them on abc2 facebook page and allow you to caption them. today's photo submit ed by brian and vanessa of their daughter avery. how cute in her mom's suit. so adorable. it generated a lot of comments and lily said the boots are made for walking. lisa says i am too cute for my britches and georgiana i got boots to fill and tracy ryan time to hit the old dusty trail. so keep captions coming and i do need photos to use later this week so e-mail yours to pix at wmar.com. thanks for sending in the great

picture. now over to you. 6:22. a woman is out of work for the holidays but not because of anything she did. her boss says she was "too pretty." melissa nelson spent 10 years as a dental assistant until her boss a dentist named james knight let her go saying she was too tempting and a threat to his marriage. nelson is 32 years old and she is married and a mother of 2 and she sued for gender discrimination and she lost. the iowa supreme court unanimously agreed with her boss dr. knight. the court says he was justified in firing her. >> i'm devastating and there's not an appeal. the state as far as -- is as far as we can go. >> the dentist lawyer said in a statement that nelson was not terminated because of her gender but to preer is of the best interest of his marriage

-- preserve the best interest of his marriage. you will probably have something to say about this next stouterring fartherring up a storm in the -- next story. farting up a storm in the workplace. a man is -- stop laughing is in work for the social security administration here in baltimore and he was formally reprimanded and accused of conduct that was unbecoming of a federal officer. there was a detailed log that claims he had 60 gassy episodes in 17 days and his coworkers say it was creating a hostile work environment and he was warned he could be fired if the incidents continued so stay tuned i guess for that story. well it's an amazing -- it's amazing what holiday deck craigss can -- decorations can do if made out of garbage. look at a restaurant and there you will find david wolf's homemade figures representing characters from a

charlesdickens christmas carol and it's made from garbage from the -- garbage from the burger king and he says the inspiration is to use trash to make figures that came to him. he is thinking about next year's display and he is not worried about finding the material he says he's got plenty out back in the dumpster. stay with us this morning. it's 6:25. a story that's going to make any parent cringe. a baby in a shopping cart headed for a busy highway. the whole thing is caught on camera. we will tell you how this came to a stop. it's time to change the way we clean.

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your -- whereby. you're watching the station that works for you. now, good morning maryland. >> nra is not budging neither are the people who want change. we will have the latest on the debate over guns in the country. looks like we might be falling over a cliff. clock is ticking and if lawmakers don't come up with a solution you will notice it in the paycheck next year. >> if you like anything made of milk you will probably pay morn is there anything to be done to prevent paying $7 for a gallon of milk? details on that straight ahead. it's monday morning and christmas eve morning. thanks is for joining us i am

megan pringle. charley is offer but lynette charles is here and no chance for a white christmas but at least it is chris i. >> exactly crisp and brisk. say that fast a few times. >> i will leave it to you. >> exactly. let's talk about what's going on in hickory this morning. because we are cold. make sure to bundle up as you head out and about and stay that way going throughout the day if you are stay outside. 30 degrees right now is what we are working with and in sykesville we are at 31 degrees. and over in norrisville temperatures is at 30. if you are not going to be able to get back home take the umbrella in case as you can do that dash to and from the mall. maryland middle east fourful radar is dry. but we do have some showers moving in as we go into the afternoon. that's a possibility and this evening mixing with a little bit of snow and also sleet the high temperature this afternoon coming in at 40 degrees. let's chec